In certain commercial or industrial settings, handling of large volumes of flexible articles is required. As one non-limiting example, in a hospital setting, soiled linens are deposited in flexible waste bags, which are secured closed to contain bodily fluids within the waste bag, as well as to minimize undesirable odors emanating from the waste bags. However, to facilitate removal of the laundry from the waste bags, the most efficient manner is to tear the bags open, rather than attempt to untie the bags. The used waste bags are then discarded in a bin. However, as waste removal costs are high, it is desirable for the waste bags to be compacted and bundled together in a cost-effective manner for efficient removal. Currently, the waste bags are accumulated in a bin, which must be manually transported to a remotely located baler machine to compact and bundle the waste bags together in an efficient and manageable size.
While the extra time and manpower that manually transporting the waste bags is an issue that needs to be resolved, there also exists a need for determining when a baler should be operated to maximize efficiency. In other words, using the waste bag example above, current systems do not have an arrangement that is configured to maximize the number of waste bags to be compacted and bundled together in a given bundle. Thus, the current baling operations are not operating at maximum efficiencies.
In the context of laundry facilities that involve flexible articles such as textiles, which touch patients/employees directly or indirectly in a healthcare facility, there are certain standards that must be met for the protection of patients/employees, as well as to minimize exposure to bacteria and disease. For example, the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is the authority on laundry standards for the preparation of hygienically clean, reusable healthcare textiles for patient care and offers a voluntary accreditation to those laundry facilities processing reusable healthcare textiles. Part of the HLAC accreditation standards involves guidelines for the laundry facilities' design and ventilation.
For example, the HLAC accreditation standards require that the laundry facility must have functional separation of areas that receive, store or process soiled textiles from areas that process, handle, or store clean textiles. Approved methods of achieving this requirement include 1) providing a physical barrier which includes a negative air pressure in the soiled textile area with venting directly to the outside (i.e., positive air flow from the clean textiles area through the soiled textiles area, or 2) providing a functional barrier by negative air pressure in the soiled textile area and positive air flow from the clean textiles area through the soiled textiles area with venting directly to the outside. Further, the ventilation of the clean textile staging and storage area must be under positive air pressure relative to adjacent spaces to prevent intrusion of contamination from the soiled textile areas.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a handling system that serves to increase efficiencies in handling flexible articles and bundling them together for removal from a commercial or industrial setting. There is also a need for providing a sanitary/infection controlled environment during a waste collection operation that vents to the outside through the use of a negative air pressure in a soiled textile area.